Land Among the Stars
by Boogalee99
Summary: Often, Adrien has gazed up at the stars and wondered what it would be like to be a mythic hero, crowned in the heavens, rather than a shadow of a savoir, locked up by his father. After Ladybug fails to show for patrol, the loneliness becomes too much and, as he gazed longingly at the stars, wishing for company, Hawkmoth strikes, finding the perfect foothold in the boy's longing.
1. Chapter 1

Adrien closed the door to his room and collapsed, leaning all of his weight against it. Sighing, he tipped his head back and closed his eyes, wishing that, just for a moment, everything would _be quiet._ There was so much noise, all day every day, that he rarely felt as if he himself could be heard over it. The only time anyone listened was when he was Chat. Oh sure, people pretended to listen to Adrien Agreste, model, heir, intellectual, prodigy, but they always _wanted_ something; money, attention, information, everyone who interacts with Adrien Agreste has an act, a motive.

Chat on the other hand…

Chat could be who he wanted to be, and no one had the power to change him.

Terrible puns? Sure, why not.

Endless flirting? Sounds like fun.

Brave heroics? Living the dream.

Chat was _free_. Adrien was not.

There was a rustling from his bag, which he had tossed carelessly aside, and Plagg came out, flying right over to land on Adrien's shoulder. "You alright, kid?"

Adrien gave a small smile and rubbed the top of the kwami's head. "I think so, buddy."

Plagg gave a contented sigh before flying right in front of Adrien's face. "You know what always makes me feel better? Some camembert!"

Chuckling, Adrien pushed himself to standing and surveyed his room. He really ought to practice his piano… his father wanted that piece done and ready to go within the week. _Likely so that he can boast about his perfect son_ , Adrien thought bitterly. _It's not as if piano is an absolutely essential skill._

He gazed longingly out the window, wishing that the sun would set, wishing that he could catch a glimpse of those stars and literally be sent back in time, to a time where heroes were crowned king rather that trapped in their room by an overprotective, distant, cold father. To a time when feats of daring and chivalry set men among the stars. Orion, Perseus, Hercules… what made them so different from Chat Noir? He had surely done more than 12 Herculean tasks, ended plenty of gorgon-like akumas, and his pursuit of Ladybug could surely be considered an endless hunt.

 _Who are you kidding, Adrien? Behind Chat's mask, you're just_ you, _a lonely kid who gazes at the stars and wishes he were among them._

Shaking his head, Adrien shot a quick text off to Nino, letting him know that he was grounded for the night and wouldn't be able to hang out. Apparently, getting an 87 on a pop quiz in chemistry was utterly unacceptable. (To be honest, Adrien was proud of that score. He and Ladybug had been up nearly till his school alarm the night before with an akumatized sleep-deprived college student called Snooze. Naturally, he made all of Paris fall asleep, except for Chat Noir and Ladybug, of course.)

Ignoring what was sure to be Nino's commiserating reply, Adrien sat down at the piano, desperate to pass the time until it was finally dark and he could meet up with Ladybug for patrol.

After dinner and endless rounds of mind-numbing games on his phone, night finally fell and Adrien could not get out of the house fast enough.

A true smile breaking across his face for the first time that day, it tool all of his self-restraint to keep his voice down. "Plagg, claws out!"

As soon as the transformation was complete, Char soared out the window, anxious for a night of good doings and friendship. He had thought up a new pun that he wanted to try out ('How's this for _paw_ -kour, m'lady?') and Ladybug always managed to bring him up of out his funk.

Quickly, he made his way to their designated rooftop and perched on the ledge, waiting for his partner to show up, amusing himself by pretending that he could make out the stars beyond the wonderful Parisian light pollution.

20 minutes passed, and there was no sign of Ladybug. Frowning, Chat Noir checked his communicator, but there was nothing. He sighed and stood up, stretching his arms up over his head. Sometimes real life gets in the way, he knew that. Heck, he'd even missed a few patrols himself with no notice. He just wished that tonight… well, tonight he really could have used some company.

Even up here on the rooftop, it was still loud. Traffic groaned below, and someone somewhere was blaring some truly _terrible_ music.

Seemed as if even Chat was going unheard today.

Trying to shake himself out of his head, Chat did a quick lap around the city, and he was disappointed even in that. It seemed as if Paris was particularly restful that night, with what few troubles there were managed completely by law enforcement. The few people he did talk to only seemed to focus on Ladybug's absence rather than Chat Noir's presence.

Chat would never begrudge his lady the attention she receives, but still, sometimes it would be nice for Chat to be recognized as a true hero in his own right, not Ladybug's shadow or sidekick.

Chat could feel himself spiraling farther down into the hole that he had dug; he knew it was time to go home before he did something that he would surely regret later. His inhibitions were considerably lower when he was Chat Noir.

He landed in his dark, cool room, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "Plagg, claws in."

A flash of green, and the kwami was before him, his gaze more serious that Adrien had ever seen it before. "Adrien? Are you sure you're alright?"

Adrien didn't answer, instead walking over to his desk and picking up his old star chart. Slipping off his shoes, Adrien crept quietly out of his room, tracing a well-worn path to the attic stairs. Avoiding the third, fifteenth, and twenty-second steps (ones he knew to be creaky), Adrien carefully made his way up to the rarely used space.

He knew that hanging out in the attic was not something your typical high schooler would do, and that in fact many high schoolers would find such a thing creepy, but it was Adrien's favorite space in the whole mansion. Cluttered with old furniture, perpetually covered in dust, it was the only space in the whole building that felt lived in, timeless, limitless. Beyond that, however, its dormers were also the best spot for stargazing.

Adrien was vaguely aware of Plagg nestling into a box of forgotten tablecloths, but most of his attention was focused on the night sky ahead of him. What should have been a pitch black sky dotted with beautiful stars was instead a gradient of gray, a horrid color that hid the beauties of the heavens beneath the atrocities of man. Laying his star chart out before him, Adrien fancied that he could just barely make out the constellations.

 _There's Hercules, and right by him, the Nemean Lion, Leo._

 _Orion, in the southern sky, endlessly chasing Scorpius in the north._

It was almost as if every single constellation has a partner, a family, a mission, something that would recognize them for who they were.

 _Poor Andromeda, with her mother Cassiopeia and her father Cepheus, nearly killed by Cetus the sea monster and then rescued by Perseus._

That family… sometimes Adrien felt as if he were chained to a rock, the expectations of his father and society forcing him to slowly lose parts of himself. They didn't listen to his cries and instead continued to take chunks of flesh from his soul.

Pausing, Adrien wondered who was Perseus in this scenario. Plagg? The thought nearly managed to make Adrien smile. Ladybug? Even Nino, for being a good, _normal_ friend?

Or was Chat Noir his Perseus? Shaking the thought from his head, Adrien tried to set his mind straight. He was _not_ a damsel in distress. Sure, he might be in a rough spot right now, but he would make it through, right?

 _The Pleiades, the Seven Sisters…_

Adrien pulled his knees up to his chest. Below him, the house seemed so empty, so devoid of life. What he wouldn't give for a good friend right now…

 _A poor boy… all alone, even his stars abandoning him. How sad. I think I might spruce up the night life for him._

 _Wait… Adrien?_

 _Hmm, this could prove rather interesting._

 _Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!_

Alone.

Alone.

Alone.

That one word kept echoing through Adrien's mind as he sat there, his eyes glazed over and no longer even attempting to dream about the stars.

No Ladybug.

No Nino.

No Alya or Marinette.

No Kim or Mylene or Ivan or Rose or Juleka or Nathaniel or Alix or Max.

No one.

Not even his father.

The star chart crumpled in his hands.

Suddenly, a blissful numbness crept over his thoughts as a voice entered into his mind.

 _Starcrossed, you've been left alone by your friends one too many times._

Somewhere in the back of his mind, a part of Adrien rebelled. Some little piece of him recognized the presence of Hawk Moth, knew that this as something he should be wary of, and yet, the respite offered by the voice, the serenity… Adrien subconsciously grasped onto it, like a toddler with a toy.

 _The only constant in your life has been Polaris, the North Star. I'm giving you the power to make all of your friends as constant a presence in your life as those mythological heroes you so dearly cling to._

Visions began to fill Adrien's head, visions of laughing friends, of smiling faces, of lived in homes. His heart leapt, and he gasped in the sheer need of such a thing.

 _In return, you will get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous._

Again a slight sense of wrongness, as if there was something not quite right with the voice. Something about Chat Noir… the numbness blocked all true thought from Adrien's mind.

A cruel smile leapt to the boy's face, transforming it from a thing of beauty to an object of fright. "Your dutiful Night awaits, Hawk Moth."

A laugh, and then a feeling of power, creeping up from where his hands grasped the star chart. He breathed deeply, feeling the sensation creep through his body, transforming it into something _more_. Smirking, he rose to his full height and caught a glimpse of himself in the window. His hair and skin was pitch black, the only deviation being bright spots of gold placed on his body in the shape of Orion, three at the belt, one on each shoulder knee, and one at the hollow of his throat. His eyes were blazing pits of yellow light. The star chart in his hand practically trembled with power.

Freed and empowered, Starcrossed blew out the window and flew out into the night, finally getting his time to shine.

Plagg had been startled out of a light nap by a slight gasp. Groggily sitting up, his shook his mind awake and looked over at Adrien, only to be shocked into full consciousness.

 _An akuma_.

No.

Adrien couldn't get akumatized!

But it was already too late.

Hawkmoth was there, and if the villain saw Plagg, then Adrien would be placed in terrible danger. Instead, Plagg was forced to sit there silently as his boy transformed into a thing of nightmares.

As soon as the boy took off, Plagg headed out too, but in the opposite direction.

As he landed on the roof of the Dupain-Cheng bakery, the kwami muttered, "I knew that he wasn't alright. I should've pressed more.

"It's gonna take a whole lot of camembert to make this whole thing feel better."


	2. Chapter 2

Marinette awoke to the sound of two voices arguing.

Okay, well maybe they weren't _arguing,_ per say, maybe they were just in a heated _discussion_ , but still, not good.

At first, her groggy mind thought that it was just her parents; after all, it was a male and female voice, but then consciousness slowly crept into existence and she realized that 1) her parents rarely fought, 2) it was the middle of the night and her parents were _always_ dead to the world at this time, and 3) she had never heard the male voice before in her life.

As soon as the realization hit her, she bolted upright in bed, her eyes wide. It was never a good thing to wake up to an unfamiliar voice. At first, she didn't see anything, but quickly, a black blob materialized in front of her. Blinking, she tried to puzzle out what it was, when all of the sudden, the blob came alive and opened its bright green eyes. "Good, you're awake!" it said in a raspy voice.

"AHH!" she shrieked, scrambling away from the _thing._ Her hands scrambled automatically for something to use as a weapon, and she grasped tight to her hairbrush handle, hurling it squarely and swiftly at the creature, knocking it out of the air and down to the ground.

She was just reaching for her math textbook (Trigonometry could pack a wallop in more ways than one) for a follow-up attack when Tikki floated up to her. "Marinette, stop! It's okay!"

She paused mid-swing. "Tikki? What's going on?"

The creature groaned, and Marinette crouched on the ground to see what she had, rather impressively, knocked out of the air. Down on her hands and knees, she watched as it raised a single arm from its position prostrate on its back. "You know," it said, dazed, "I always wondered how she could be Ladybug, but after that shot? I have no more questions." It dropped its arm and closed its eyes. "Tikki, how come you always pick the crazy ones?"

Tikki hmphed. "Like your user isn't any stranger."

Marinette looked between the two. "Wait… are you Chat's kwami?"

The little being finally popped back up. "Yep! Plagg, m'lady. Got any cheese?"

She just stared at him. "What are you doing here? Is something up with Chat Noir?"

"Well, about that-"

"He's been akumatized," Tikki cut in.

"He's WHAT?" Marinette felt her heart flutter with worry, her breathing increasing and her mind clouding over with panic.

 _No._

 _No, that can't be._

 _He's Chat, he's always so happy and helpful and fun and joking._

 _He_ can't _have been akumatized. I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen him truly upset._

The thought that she had missed something in her friend, some kind of sadness or bitterness or anger, and that she had failed him in some way, struck her deep to her core.

It was with a twinge of guilt that she remembered that she had missed patrol without any notice, and she winced, knowing that that probably didn't help matters at all.

"Where is he?" she asked quietly. She was shocked by the revelation.

The kwamis looked at each other before responding in unison. "We don't know."

Marinette frowned; akumas usually made themselves known pretty quickly. "Well, how was he akumatized? What object is the akuma in?"

The little black cat thing sighed. "Well, he was feeling really lonely. For most of his life, he's been isolated, but recently, he's felt like all of his friends have kind of left him behind, and he's scared of being isolated again." For the first time that night, something like grief came over the kwami's face. A quick glance at Tikki said that this was not a normal occurrence. "He's always loved the stars, and so he was trying to find some comfort in the constellations and he had his star chart with him… I had fallen asleep and when I woke up again, the akuma had already entered into his star chart." The grief was gone in an instant. "I really need some camembert…"

Marinette was entirely unsure what cheese had to do with anything, but she knew that there was only one thing she could do. "Tikki! Spots on!"

A brief pink light, and Ladybug was standing in Marinette's place. Her voice was steady, but the twitches in her face belied her turbulent emotions. "Plagg, I'm not asking you to reveal Chat Noir's identity, but I need to know: who is the one person that the guy behind the mask would want to keep company with?"

The kwami hesitated, but gave in. "Nino Lahiffe."

 _I know him_.

That was the first thought through Ladybug's mind. Shaking her head (she could not afford distraction right now), she said, "Then let's go."

She leapt thrown the trapdoor to the balcony and paused. "You coming?"

Wordlessly, Plagg shot up beside her.

With a sling of her yoyo, they were off.

* * *

Starcrossed grinned as he flew across the Parisian sky. A flick of his wrist, and all of the streetlights below him went out, plunging the City of Love into darkness. With each light that went out, the sky got darker and darker, until, finally, you could see the stars.

 _This,_ he thought, _is what power is._

Silently, he twisted through the air, making his way to his best friend's home. He paused and looked in Nino's bedroom window, seeing the other boy fast asleep. With a grin, Adrien traced a line between fifteen stars, and, quick as a flash, the Nemean lion, of the constellation Leo, leapt off his star chart and rammed the window, breaking the glass. Nino startled awake, blinking rapidly as he reached for his glasses. Starcrossed tapped the lion with his chart, returning the constellation to its place, and laughed. "Ah, Nino, Nino, Nino… What will your story be?"

Nino gaped. "Huh? What?" His hands finally found his glasses and he quickly slid them onto his face. "Oh no, not another akuma… it's too early for this crap." He started scrambling around the room, searching for an escape route.

Starcrossed smirked, considering the boy before him. "I think… the DJ, forever hosting gatherings of friends in the sky." Touching the air as if tapping a touchscreen, a collection of dots appeared before Starcrossed. _That's it… a dot at each ear, three making a bridge between them, a dot at each shoulder, hand, and side of the hip, plus a collection of four more around the right hand and…_ Starcrossed flicked his hand through the air as if to wave the arrangement off, and the dots of light flew through the air, attaching themselves to Nino.

"Woah!" Nino tried to shake off the dots, but the light began to envelop him until, with one final flare, he was completely overtaken, his body seeming to disappear.

Stalking forward a bit, Starcrossed looed at the ceiling. His grin was cruel. "Not bad." There, stuck to the ceiling, was the constellation the DJ. Glancing down at his star chart, he saw fifteen new stars gleaming bright. "Not bad at all."

* * *

Ladybug rushed across the city, but she didn't even have to enter Nino's room to know that she was too late.

Carefully slipping through the broken glass of the window, she quietly called out, "Nino?" Looking about herself, she saw nothing too out of place, leaving her to wonder what exactly Chat's akuma powers were. She saw nothing beyond a ruffled, empty bed and a knocked over chair.

Plagg zoomed out from wherever he was hiding and began looking through the room with her. They were finding nothing until…

"Ladybug, look up!"

At the kwami's cry, Ladybug glanced at the ceiling and was taken aback at what she saw. "What the-Nino!"

There arranged like a constellation, were a series of lights that must have been Nino. "Oh no, Nino!"

Plagg flew up to the ceiling and patted one of the lights. "Come on, Ladybug. There's nothing we can do for him right now."

Sighing, Ladybug slipped out of the room and up to the roof. She was about to question Plagg about Chat's next victim when a bright flash lit up the dark night. "There he is! Let's go, Plagg."

* * *

 _Flash!_

Chloe. Queen Bee. Forever causing trouble so that things don't get boring.

 _Flash!_

Alya. The Reporter. Always keeping people in contact.

 _Flash!_

Rose. The…Rose. Eternally bringing joy to all around.

One by one, each of Starcrossed friends were succumbing to his power.

 _Flash!_ Ivan. _Flash!_ Mylene. _Flash!_ Max.

 _Flash! Flash! Flash!_

The only hiccup to his plan came when he approached Marinette's house and found her room, much to his surprise, to be empty. There was little Starcrossed could do about that, though, so he simply shrugged his shoulders and moved on, confident that there would be time to hunt her down once his other friends had joined his constellation collection and Ladybug had been dealt with.

His collection complete, dozens of new constellations now dotting his star chart, Starcrossed grinned and made his way to a viewing deck on the Eiffel Tower.

And there he waited.

* * *

 _Flash! Flash! Flash!_ Ladybug felt as if she was being led on a wild goose chase. Chat Noir's movements seemed to have absolutely no rhyme or reason to them, and he was moving across the city at incredible speeds.

Ladybug stopped to catch her breath on a household rooftop. "I'm never going to catch him like this. I have to do something different!"

Plagg floated up beside her. "Umm, Ladybug?"

She eyed the kwami suspiciously; he hadn't been particularly helpful at all. "What, do you have an idea?"

"Weeeeelll…" The kwami tweaked an eye, giving himself an odd, off-balance look. "Not about finding him, no. I was thinking that, you know, Hawk Moth didn't akumatize him while he was Chat Noir."

Ladybug crossed her arms impatiently. "Yeah, so?"

"So, he doesn't know that Chat Noir is _Chat Noir._ "

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks; if she called her friend Chat Noir, then she would give away his identity.

She nodded unconsciously. "Got it."

As Ladybug stood on the roof, she kept thinking more and more about her partners MO.

 _He's obviously going after the people who mean a lot to him, going off Plagg. I'd like to think that I am numbered among the people he cares about, which means that eventually, he's going to try to collect me as well._

 _He's also smart enough, though, to know that he won't be able to find me by chasing me about the city, which means that he will, at least eventually, likely stake out a place that we frequent regularly on our patrols or battles._

 _The question is, where? The park? The school? The..._

 _That's it!_

She nearly cried out in victory. Instead, she pulled her yoyo from her side. "Come on, Plagg! We're leaving!"

Just as she left the roof, he asked, "Wait! Where are we going?"

Calling out over her shoulder, she answered, "The Eiffel Tower!"

* * *

Starcrossed was gazing out at the Paris skyline, leaning his wait on the rails of the fence, when he heard Ladybug land on the platform behind him.

Without turning, he said, "Isn't this nice? You can actually see the stars now, you know. So much natural beauty."

He heard her take a hesitant step forward. "Why are you doing this?" she asked warily.

He ignored her question. "I prefer it like this." He cocked his head. "I always did like the dark."

 _Starcrossed!_ Hawk Moth screamed in his head. _Get her Miraculous!_

Starcrossed turned, still lounging against the railing, his arms folded over his chest, the star map hidden in his grasp. "What do you think, Ladybug?"

Starcrossed could see her confliction on her face. She didn't want to fight him; good. "I think," she paused, swallowed, "that you're my friend, and that you're hurting."

 _What is she babbling on about, Starcrossed? Explain!_

Starcrossed lazily waved a hand at the sky. "Do you have a favorite constellation, little insect? Because I do."

Her eyes narrowed. She knew he was playing with her, she just didn't know what his game was.

He finally unfurled his star chart. "I'm partial to Hercules- "he traced the figure as he said it- "myself."

The constellation pealed from the page and materialized into a muscular man who instantly attacked Ladybug. Though she was clearly caught off guard (Starcrossed highly doubted that she had been aware of the extent of his abilities until that point in time) she handled herself admirably.

Starcrossed chuckled when she had time in the rhythm of the battle to lock eyes with him. "Having fun, Ladybug?" he mocked. "How about another playmate?" Less than a second later, Perseus joined the fight.

While his constellations kept Ladybug busy, Starcrossed began to think about what he wanted her story to be. Somehow, the Ladybug just seemed too obvious of a constellation for her…

Starcrossed yelped when he felt a stinging pain in his side. Somehow, Ladybug had managed to momentarily free herself from his constellations. Flying slightly out of her reach, he scowled. "Very well, then!" he yelled, no longer playing the 'calm, cool and collected' card, "Have fun with Scorpius and Draco!" The two creatures flew towards her the instant that his finger finished tracing the last lines.

Starcrossed heard her shriek, but he was already engrossed again in his planning.

No, the Ladybug wouldn't work at all.

The Heroine? Nope.

The Lover? Starcrossed got an odd sensation in his chest when he pondered that title.

The Lady?

The Lady.

That's it. Forever enchanting others with her grace and elegance.

He looked up at the battle and smiled. Ladybug had been entrapped in Scorpios' tail, and even now she was struggling to fight her way out. Starcrossed flew up to her. He brushed the bangs back from her forehead. "You, _my Lady_ , shall been my crowning accomplishment." Gently, he started creating his artwork on her.

Three gentle taps to her forehead created her diadem.

"Please!" she pleaded. "Don't do this! You're better than this.

Three taps at the base of her neck, making a necklace. "Oh? And how would you know that?" he asked scathingly.

One tap on each wrist. He would need to try to shift Scorpios' hold so he could have access to her waist.

"Because you're my _friend_ ," she responded desperately.

That drew a reaction out of Starcrossed. He stood violently up and thrust his face within inches of hers. _"Really."_

She nodded, her eyes hung with grief. "Really." And she kissed his cheek.

* * *

Ladybug watched as her kiss caused Chat to stumble away and momentarily lose control of his constellations. In the split second that his emotions wavered, Scorpios vanished, allowing Ladybug to flip some distance away. "Lucky charm!" she called desperately, throwing her yoyo into the air.

What landed back in her arms was a bag of marbles, the kind with 2 of the big shooters and 8 of the little ones (Ladybug hardly knew a think about marbles). She glanced around frantically, trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't until she glanced at Draco that she saw something.

 _Draco's feet._

 _Scorpios' tail._

 _Perseus' sword_.

Grinning for the first time all evening, Ladybug leapt into action, her confidence returning as she fell into a familiar pattern. She tore open the bag, removing the two shooters, before springing forward into the fray.

She upended the bag right before she reached Draco, spilling all of the small marbles at the creature's feet, causing them to fly out from under him and sending the beast shooting into Scorpios.

As the giant scorpion was taken out, his tail went flying, allowing Ladybug to use it like a trapeze, launching herself over the beasts and right in front of a surprised Perseus. "Hey Percy!" she called, "Take this!" One right after the other, she tossed the two shooters at the mythological hero.

Reacting purely on instinct, Ladybug watch with satisfaction as Perseus swung his sword twice, hitting one shooter harmlessly to the side before catching the other on his backstroke.

The second marble went straight through Chat's star chart.

"No!" he yelled, some kind of… _anguish?_ present In his voice.

Ladybug looked helplessly at her friend as she said halfheartedly, "No more evil doing for you, little akuma."

She weakly shot out her yoyo, crying, "Time to de-evilize!" As the little thing flew away, she bade it farewell. "Bye bye, little butterfly."

On faltering steps, she made her way to her partner. "Oh, kitty. Why didn't you tell me you weren't okay?" She kissed the top of his head, wishing for his blond hair back. "I promise I won't look, okay?" She turned away.

"Plagg?" The little kwami popped up immediately. "Transform with him when everything's fixed, okay?" She didn't wait for his nod.

Stepping forward a few paces, she cried out, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

* * *

 **So I wasn't going to post this until later, but then I realized I was going on vacation and wouldn't be able to, so you get it early! Don't expect the next (and last) one for at least a week.**


	3. Chapter 3

Ladybug held her back stiff and straight as the last of the of her power swept past the boy that she knew was huddled on the ground less than four meters away. Oddly enough, she didn't feel any temptation whatsoever to turn around; she was more concerned about Chat Noir than anything.

She stayed there for what felt like an eternity, listening to the faint mumbles of Chat conversing with his kwami. Finally, she heard a weak, broken voice cry out, "Plagg, claws out…" Her heart broke at the sound. _Oh, minou…_

She stayed as she was, not wanting to risk turning around mid-transformation, until her partner tentatively called out, "Ladybug?"

Faster than she probably should have, Ladybug whirled around and threw her arms around her partner, holding him tight to her. A single tear leaked down her cheek as she murmured, "Kitty."

Chat Noir took a shuddering gasp, his entire frame wracking with emotion, before his arms closed around her just as tightly, if not more so. She felt a dampness on her shoulder where he silently cried. She rubbed calming circles on his back, trying to keep her own emotions under control.

They stayed there for a while before Ladybug's Miraculous beeped. The sudden sound startled both heroes, causing them to freeze.

Ladybug was at a loss of what to do; there was no way that she would be leaving Chat Noir alone on tonight of all nights, but she needed to take care of Tikki.

Her dilemma was solved for her. Chat pulled back, his head hung low, his hands desperately gripping her biceps. "You…you need to go take care of your kwami." He seemed to force the words out. "Don't… don't worry. I'll be f-fine."

Another beep sounded. Ladybug crunched her face in determination. Gently taking his hands from her arms and grasping them, she stated firmly, "Don't you dare move, Chat Noir. I'll be right back." When she didn't get any sort of reaction, she dropped one of his hands and lifted his chin, forcing him to look her in the eye. "I swear to you," she vowed, " _I. Will. Come. Back."_

Somehow, her conviction must have broken through to him, because he searched her face for a minute before soundlessly nodding.

Nodding her head both in acknowledgment and satisfaction, she squeezed his hand once before running off.

She had barely made it down to street level before her last warning beep. Quickly, Ladybug disappeared and Marinette stood in her place. Exhaling sharply, she leaned against a building. "Tikki?" she questioned. "What are we going to do?"

The little spotted kwami zoomed over to hover in front of Marinette. "Do you have anything on you?"

Marinette looked down at her attire: pajama pants and a tank top. "No. No food, and no money. And the bakery's too far away."

Tikki shrugged. "Right now, it looks like our only option."

Marinette sighed. "Great! And I get to roam the Parisian streets at night, by myself!" Groaning, she made an about face and set off at a clip. "Come on, Tikki."

They had just gone a little over a block when her foot kicked something on the sidewalk. Looking down, they saw a shiny wrapper. Likely, someone had dropped a piece of candy, but also… _super sketchy._ She and Tikki looked at each other before the kwami swooped down and picked it up. Tikki had started to unwrap it before Marinette hesitantly asked, "Uh, Tikki? You sure about this?"

The kwami popped the candy in her mouth. "Desperate times call for desperate measures!" she crowed around the candy. "Besides, your human drugs shouldn't affect me too much, if this is tainted."

Marinette could hardly protest ( _shouldn't? too much?_ ) as the kwami had already swallowed the treat. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she asked, "Are you okay now?"

Tikki swallowed her treat before offering up a small smile. "Yes! You need to go help Chat Noir now."

Marinette spared a moment to scratch Tikki's head with a finger. "Thank you." Stepping back a bit, she said, "Tikki, spots on!"

Transformation complete and her identity firmly intact, Ladybug rushed back to her kitty.

* * *

As soon as Ladybug ran off, Chat collapsed on the viewing deck. Pulling his legs up to his chest, he clapped his hands over his ears and clamped his eyes shut. _You screwed up majorly this time, idiot,_ he thought to himself.

All around him, Paris was slowly starting to come alive again, street lights coming back on, cars starting up. Everyone moving on.

Everyone except Chat.

His hands migrated from his ears to his eyes. _You thought Chat Noir was free?_ he thought bitterly. _Think again. He can fail just as much as Adrien can._

 _And when he fails, he fails_ harder.

Chat Noir was so caught up in his thoughts that he practically leapt into the air when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Springing to his feet, he wildly looked around before he finally noticed Ladybug watching him sadly, her hand stretched out before her.

He crossed his arms tightly across his chest before offering an awkward wave. "H-hey, m'lady. Don't you look _purr_ -ty tonight."

She cocked her head, examining him, and Chat Noir did his best not to flinch under her gaze ( _you screwed up, you screwed up, screwed up, screwedup_ ). He had absolutely no idea what was going through her mind at the moment.

The moment was broken when Ladybug sighed before plopping herself down, her legs out before her and her arms out back, supporting her. She surveyed the Paris skyline as she requested, "Sit with me?"

Hesitantly, Chat sat down cross-legged next to her. He startled when she leaned her head on his shoulder. His breath shuddering, he stilled for a moment, before resting his cheek on her soft hair. They sat in silence and watched the city below them.

Suddenly, Ladybug said, "I didn't know you liked the stars."

Char Noir nearly laughed at the ridiculousness of it. Of all the things that she could have said, she choose _that_? "I, yeah, I really do."

Another breath of silence, before, "What constellation is your favorite?"

He opened his mouth to answer before she cut him off. "And don't you just tell me a generic one. I know you, _minou_ , and I can guarantee that Orion or the Big Dipper is not your favorite."

He chuckled bitterly and turned his face into her fair, breathing in her scent, a smell of bread and lavender. "Oh how you would me, m'lady. I wouldn't dream of lying to you." He paused. "My favorite constellation is Eridanus, the king of rivers."

Ladybug hummed. "I can't say I'm familiar with it."

Chat shrugged, bobbling both of their heads with the movement. "I can't say I'm surprised. It's not really well known." Chat hesitated for a second before lifting his arm and pointing to the sky. "If we could see the stars, it would be right there, one long string of lights between Orion and Cetus, the longest constellation in the sky."

To his silent shock, Ladybug reached up and grabbed his hand, cradling it in one of hers. "Tell me about it?"

For several moments, all Chat Noir could do was look at their hands, before he launched into the story. "Well, Phaethon, he was the son of Apollo, the sun god, right? So for his birthday, he told Apollo, hey, prove I'm your son." At this, Ladybug offered a little giggle. The sound lightened the darkness on his soul, just a little. He continued. "Well, Apollo, being a great dude, said he would give Phaethon anything he wanted. Phaethon, keeping in character, asked to drive the chariot of the sun. Though he was reluctant, Apollo kept his word, allowing Phaethon to steer the chariot, despite knowing that no mortal man could."

Ladybug fidgeted a bit. "Oh no."

Chat gave a breathless chuckle. "Yeah. Anyway, Phaethon lost control pretty quickly, as you would expect. He flew too low, scorching the earth and freezing the heavens, before flying too high, freezing the earth and scorching the heavens. Eventually, Zeus shot him from the sky and he fell, 'just as a star, though it does not really fall, could yet be thought to fall from a clear sky,' as Ovid wrote, before landing in a new land, the Italian river Eridanus soothing his charred features."

The two heroes sat in companionable silence for several more minutes, until Ladybug lifted her head and grabbed Chat's chin, forcing him to look her in the eyes. Solemnly, she said, "Let me be your Eridanus, kitty."

He started, but found he couldn't look away from her gaze. "What do you mean?"

Her hand moved to cup his cheek. "You've lost control. Your emotions are all over the place, and this last blow, Hawkmoth's strike, has thrown you out of the sky." He eyes were soft, her voice tender. "Let me be a balm to your charred features, Chat Noir. Let me ease your suffering. Let me be your Eridanus."

Chat Noir swallowed hard before he threw his arms around his partner, his face screwed up in an effort to not cry. She murmured meaningless phrases as she patted his back and ran a hand threw her hair. "It will be okay, _minou_. Everything is fine." She paused for a second before adding meaningfully, "I will _always_ be here to catch you."

When he had finally calmed down, Chat Noir pulled back and was able to offer her a shaky smile. "Thank you, bugaboo."

She nodded to him, her face completely serios. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Chat instantly shook his hand. "Not…not really."

She smiled softly at him. "Then we won't." She resumed her pervious position, laying her head back on his shoulder. "Tell me about another constellation."

* * *

The next day at school, all anyone could talk about was the akuma attack.

"Oh my gosh, Marinette, you would not believe it! I was a _constellation!"_ Alya seemed absolutely thrilled at the thought.

Marinette laughed nervously. "I…can't believe I missed it."

Alya threw her arm around Marinette's shoulders. "I can't believe you did either, girl! Practically everyone in the class got hit!"

"Dude, Adrien escaped too!" a voice called out from behind them. Both girls whirled about to see Nino and Adrien approaching. "It seems like you two always miss the most exciting stuff."

The conversation hitting a little close to home, Marinette desperately changed the topic. "Hey Alya, did you remember Mme Mendeleev's quiz over polyatomic ions?"

Her friend accepted the topic change with surprising ease. "Girl, if I have to tell one more perbromate from a bromate, I'm gonna scream."

Inwardly, Marinette sighed with relief.

She made it through most of the day without a hitch, managing to avoid all sorts of awkward questions from her classmates, until she was in the last class, literature with Mme Bustier.

"Mankind has passed stories down throughout the ages," she began, "using many different mediums. Who can name one?"

"Ooh, ooh, poetry!" Rose piped up excitedly from the back, her hand in the air.

Mme Bustier smiled. "Yes, what else?"

"Novels?" Mylene suggested.

"Good," Mme Bustier said, "but get more creative. There are lots of ways, class!"

"Art," Nathaniel offered, at the same time the Nino said, "Music."

"Now you're getting it," the teacher encouraged, "What else?"

Gaining confidence, the class began to offer up answers rapidly.

"Religion!"

"Dance?"

"Plays."

"Architecture!"

"Constellations."

Marinette whipped her head around to look at who had offered up this last one, and her gaze landed squarely on Adrien, who was innocently engaged in the lesson. No one else seemed to find his answer odd, but to Marinette…

She buried her head in her arms. She had tried to ignore all of the signs, from Chat's hair and build to the victims of his akuma attacks, but really, this was the last straw.

As soon as the last bell rang, Marinette shoved her stuff in her bag and sprang from her seat, ambushing Adrien as he was leaving the classroom. Ignoring Alya and Nino's shocked looks, she grabbed the blond's arm and yanked him into an empty classroom, telling him as they went, "We need to talk."

Poor Adrien seemed completely and utterly confused as she slammed the door and whirled around to face him. She advanced toward him, poking him in the chest as she said, "You really need to be more careful, kitty."

Marinette could see the surprise in his eyes, and she knew for sure that once the idea that Chat Noir and Adrien were one and the same set it she'd be practically comatose with shock, but for right now, her emotions were running rampant.

"I tried to ignore the fact that Nino and Alya were your first victims, I never actively thought about how familiar Chat's voice was, but your answer was the breaking point. _Constellations_? Practically no one would have though of that. No one but _Chat Noir_ , who I happen to know has an oddly in-depth knowledge of constellations." She huffed and murmured under her breath, "I swear, if I wasn't such a nice person…"

Some sort of distressed noise was eeking it's way out of Adrien's throat and Marinette glared at him until he was finally able to squeak out, "M'lady?"

* * *

 **And that's it! This story was loads of fun to write. If you enjoyed it, please review!**


End file.
